How to Make Time

There are many people saying “I don't have time", but I believe that time is what you make. I'm sure they don't mean to offend me, but the other day I was told by an acquaintance, "It's nice that you have time" (=you have free time), which made me reluctantly angry.

Here's a list of things I'm working on one day:

Main Job (9:00am to 5:00pm PST)

Side Jobs (private class, speech, etc.) 

Blog writing

Attending webinars

Reading

Studying (Tagalog, TESOL, Business, etc.)

Of course, I don't do everything every day, but I basically do work plus a couple of things after work every day. I work the same number of hours as most people, so I don't think I have more free time... I intentionally make time to do things before/after work.

Today, I'm going to write about how I actually make time for myself, in terms of actions (2, 3) and mindset (4).

*This article is written for people who want to make time and is not a criticism of any individual's actions or hobbies. No one has the right to criticize what other people like to do. 

2. SN Wandering

If you are one of those people who say, "I want to do a lot of things, but I don't have the time," there is a possibility that you are letting your smartphone exploit your time. I recommend that you check the screen time of your phone.

If you are an iPhone user, you can go to "Settings -> Screen Time". If you tap on "See All Activities" under the graph, you can see the number of hours spent per app, per day, and per week. (I'm sorry, I don't know about Android. 😓) When you look at it, you may be surprised to see how much time you've spent. I think many people will be surprised.

If social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, etc.) are at the top of the list, be brave and delete them ✊← You can see all of them on your computer, and they won't kill you.

If you're wandering around on social networking sites, I'm sure you're in a cycle of "it's easy to look at on my phone -> so you look at it -> You start looking at it and goofing off -> time is passing -> time is running out -> You’re lamenting that you don't have time" (I was the same before).

I believe that by putting social networking in an inconvenient environment, the chances of social networking wandering will decrease, and I have seen a decrease in my practice. Are you wandering around on your phone before going to bed? If social networking sites were only available on your computer, would you be awake to open your computer and wander around on social networking sites before going to bed?

I'm not saying that it's wrong to use social networking sites, and I'm sure I spend more than an hour a day on them. The problem is that you're using SN without a purpose, which is called "social networking wandering" here. However, if it's your hobby, that's fine ☺️ (as I said at the beginning, it's not for others to get involved in your hobby).

3. Turn Off Notification 

This is related to what I said in "2. Wandering around on social networking sites", but don't you open your phone when notifications such as Twitter comments, LINE notifications, etc. ring? And then you start playing with different apps (in the case of FB notifications, you may end up wandering around on social networking sites)... 🥲

Turn off all notifications on your phone!

What if you get an urgent message at work? If it's an emergency, they should call. There is no need to blame yourself because contacting someone via text-based communication (such as email or LINE) when it is an emergency is in itself a wrong way to contact someone in an emergency. Furthermore, I believe that text-based communication should basically allow the recipient to decide when to return it. The fact that it doesn't take up much of a person's time is probably one of the reasons why text-based communication is still being used to this day (although I’m not sure if they are usually aware of it).

The notifications I turn on are phone calls, messengers, and reminders. I turn off notifications for everything else.

4. Will Do It because I will Do It, NOT Will Do It when I Have Time

How would you feel if someone said, "I'll go if I can"? Or when you say, "I'll go if I can"? Sometimes you really mean it, but sometimes it implies that you won't be able to go, doesn't it? The key is that it is not feasible because whichever you choose, you're not lying.

If you say, "When I have time, I'll read a book," it's not a lie whether you read it or not. But if you didn't do it, you have to think about whether (1) you really didn't have the time or (2) you didn't try to make it. As long as you live in this mindset, you can justify yourself for the rest of your life for not trying to make it.

I could understand that you feel self-loathing and guilt despite your justification. So what will you do? That's the "Will do it because I'll do it.

“When I have time, I'll read a book."→ "I'll read a book, so I'll make time.

The point is to think in terms of goals and actions rather than conditions first. I think it's the same way of thinking as when designing a class. You don't design a class where you make students study in the dark and say, "You'll be lucky if you get this far... In any syllabus or course, you should set goals and ask students to take action (learn) to achieve them.

The mindset of "if I have the time" is a powerful word that makes people forget that time is something you make. If there are people who think this way, changing your mindset will make it easier for you to try and make time.

5. Summary

From my own personal experience, I believe that erasing social networking sites from your phone is quite effective. 

However, there are times when you really don't have time due to external factors, or you can't make time due to force majeure (huge workload, emergency, etc.). I think that is inevitable, but sometimes the workload is a different story (are you working efficiently in the first place? And so on).

I hope more and more people will be able to use your precious time, which is only 24 hours a day, in your ideal way🙏.

Thank you for reading🙇️♂.